MSC Sinfonia is a cruise ship owned and operated by Italian MSC Cruises. She was built in 2002 by Chantiers de l'Atlantique of Saint-Nazaire, France for the now defunct Festival Cruises (MS Europe Stars). She was the last ship built for festival cruising.

European Stars is the second of two sister ships ordered by Festival Cruises from Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France (the first sister ship was MS European Vision). The contract price of the ship is US$245 million, and the shipyard number is X31. The two new ships are built on the same platform as MS Mistral, built by the same shipyard for Festival Cruises in 1999, but with an additional 35 meters (115 feet) in the middle section, providing more passenger space and A cabin deck with private balcony was added.

The newbuilding X31 was launched on March 4, 2001 in Saint-Nazaire. Star".

Eurostar departs Barcelona on 25 April 2002 for the festival cruise. However, her career with Festival was short-lived as the company went bankrupt in January 2004 and the Eurostar was subsequently impounded and stranded in Barcelona on 19 January 2004. Until she was sold to MSC Cruises in July 2004 for 220 million euros and renamed MSC Sinfonia (her sister ship European Vision also joined the MSC fleet and was renamed MSC Armonia). MSC Sinfonia entered service in March 2005 under new ownership.

The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea located between Europe to the south, Africa to the north, and Asia to the west. It is about 4,000 kilometers long from east to west and about 1,800 kilometers at its widest point from north to south. It covers an area of 2.516 million square kilometers. It is the largest intercontinental sea on earth. The average depth of the Mediterranean Sea is 1,500 meters, and the deepest point is 5,267 meters.

The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean in the west through the Strait of Gibraltar, and to the Black Sea in the east through the Turkish Straits (Dardanelles, Bosporus, Sea of Marmara). The Suez Canal, opened in the 19th century, connected the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Geologically speaking, the Mediterranean Sea is one of the oldest seas in the world. It was formed by the gradual shrinking of the ocean. About 5.5 million years ago, the salinity crisis in Messina once caused the inland sea to dry up. The Mediterranean Sea is located at the junction of the Eurasian and African plates and is an earthquake zone. There are volcanoes such as Vesuvius and Etna in the Mediterranean region. Today's landforms were gradually formed due to orogeny. Due to the exchange of ocean currents with the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean water is oligotrophic and has few biological resources, but it is visually very clear and has many beautiful beaches.

As an intercontinental sea, the Mediterranean Sea has less wind and waves. In addition, with its winding coastline and numerous islands, it has many natural harbors and has become an important transportation artery connecting the three continents. Such conditions have made maritime trade prosperous in the Mediterranean since ancient times, promoting the development of ancient Egyptian civilization, ancient Greek civilization, and the Roman Empire. It is now also one of the important areas for maritime traffic in the world. The Phoenicians, Cretans, Greeks, Venetians, Genoese, etc. along its coast, as well as the later Portuguese and Spanish, were all nations with advanced navigation industries. Famous navigators such as Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Magellan, etc. all came from countries along the Mediterranean Sea.

The Mediterranean climate has hot, dry summers and warm, humid winters. Vegetation such as Mediterranean pine has hard leaves, waxy leaves, and deep root systems. It is drought-resistant and adapts to the hot and dry climate in summer. It is a subtropical evergreen sclerophyll forest. With abundant light and heat, it is Europe's main subtropical fruit-producing area, rich in citrus, figs, grapes, etc., as well as the woody oil crop olives.